


poltergeists for sidekicks

by primitivemorals



Category: Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe, Gen, IRL Fic, Tommy ARG, Tommyinnit Arg (Video Blogging RPF), no beta we die like wilbur, pov you come back after four years to find a channel run by someone who looks like you, tom is very confused
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-16
Updated: 2021-02-16
Packaged: 2021-03-17 22:55:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,134
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29479536
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/primitivemorals/pseuds/primitivemorals
Summary: When Tom's first video after four years blows up, he's confused.He's even more confused when all the comments are comparing him to a guy named TommyInnit.But it's just a coincidence, right?
Relationships: No Romantic Relationship(s)
Comments: 16
Kudos: 104





	poltergeists for sidekicks

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [not quite yourself today](https://archiveofourown.org/works/29414901) by [iveery](https://archiveofourown.org/users/iveery/pseuds/iveery). 



> title from ghosting by mother mother

Tom doesn’t understand.

He doesn’t _understand_.

He scrolls through the comments of his video with a sinking feeling in his stomach. Why had it blown up? Why were all the comments vaguely referencing things he didn’t understand? Why did it have over a million views?

_Dude there’s this guy called “TommyInnit” who’s been stealing your identity for like the last four years.._

_Is it just me, or does this guy look a lot like Tommyinnit?_

_Hey Tom, theres this guy called TommyInnit and he's putting your face in his videos and he gets millions of views._

He hasn’t been on the internet much after he deleted all his videos but surely this was a coincidence, right?

He scrolls back up, resolutely ignoring the confusing comments, and types ‘tommyinnit’ into the search bar.

The results load and he blinks. That’s. . . that’s him. His breath hitches. His face, contorted into a weird expression, is the profile picture of a channel with over six million subscribers. His heart lurches in his chest as he clicks on the first video recommended to him.

**The Most Hilarious Minecraft Mod Ever!**

That’s his fucking voice. His voice is boisterously introducing a Minecraft mod. The white screen fades out and-

That’s his face. His room. His hair and his headphones and his fucking Zelda backpack hanging on his door. It’s. . . him.

His eyes dart over to his bed where a white shirt with a yellow collar is crumpled. The same as the one in the video. The one he’s wearing in the video.

But it’s not him. It can’t be, right?

The last time he checked, he didn’t have a Youtube channel with six million subscribers that apparently uploaded not even a fucking _hour ago _.__

Tom lets the video play as he scrolls to the comments, tuning out his own voice imploring him to subscribe.

Nothing was amiss in the comments. It was only people laughing at the bits in the video, no one was asking why TommyInnit had stolen his face and his laugh and why he was twisting his voice into something upbeat and happy and so unlike him that it makes Tom feel sick.

He wipes his sweaty hands on his pants as he reads.

_Wilbur's conversation with editor larry is beautiful and not appreciated as much as it should be_

_mans woke up and chose “Arsenal” as the word of the day_

_I like how tommy censored the swears for the first 30 seconds then just stopped lol_

Did no one see the fucking problem? That this channel had somehow stolen his identity? Why weren’t these comments filled with vague references, with comparisons to Tom? He swallows hard as sudden shivers wracked his body. Whether it was from panic or the cold always present in his bones, he wasn’t sure.

His shaking fingers navigate to the channel page again. Tom’s laughing face adorns every thumbnail and he doesn’t understand, who _is_ this because it certainly isn’t _him_. He doesn’t understand how this channel is using him because surely he would remember this, right?

He exits out of the tab because he can’t _breathe_ and he reaches up with trembling fists to rub the black spots from his eyes that are threatening to take over his vision. He rests his head on his arms as he waits for the dizziness to pass. He heaves his head up and spins in his chair.

Something shiny in the corner of his room catches his eye.

Two golden plaques are resting against the door of his closet. He can make out the words “TommyInnit” and “TommyOutit” on them. He jerks up out of his chair and drops to his knees in front of them. His head is swimming and he doesn’t fucking get it, what’s happening, what’s going on, why why _why is this happening-_

-

Tom blinks and he’s outside. He must’ve lost time again. That’s fine. He forgets a lot nowadays.

He’s standing in a snowy field. He blinks the spots out of his vision as he becomes aware of his surroundings. The puffy jacket he’s wearing is doing nothing to keep out the cold. It’s so cold.

He doesn’t know how he got here. He shakily pats his pockets and locates his phone. He opens it and finds that he had left an Instagram page open.

tommyinnitt - 71 posts - 1.6M followers - 135 following

Tom’s eyes widen as bits of memories flood back to him. _Scrolling through comments. Confusion. Golden metal in the corner._

He doesn’t remember- doesn’t understand-

He taps on the most recent post with freezing fingers. His heart feels like it’s about to collapse as he sees it’s _himself. It’s him standing where he’s standing- it was fucking posted a few minutes ago-_

Except it’s not _himself_ because he doesn’t post on Instagram- and even if he did his posts certainly wouldn’t get thousands of likes in minutes _so what’s going on- who took the picture-_

Tom’s head jerks up as he frantically scans the field. It’s quiet. The snow is undisturbed and the trees surrounding him rustle in the wind. The only noise he can make out is his own ragged breathing as he tries not to pass out from panic.

He needs to get out of here. No one is around but he can’t shake the feeling that someone is watching him. The back of his neck is prickling as he trudges toward the road that leads to the field. He prays he can remember the way home. It’s too cold to be outside. He’s always too cold.

He walks along the road he hopes leads to his house as he twists his fingers together. His fuzzy brain attempts to straighten the facts he has.

His video blew up.

The comments said he looks like TommyInnit.

There are two gold channel plaques in his room.

TommyInnit is _him he’s in his room he’s standing where Tom was standing how-_

He cuts off that train of thought before his brain can shut him out again. There has to be an explanation for this. He shudders as he goes back to thinking.

He doesn’t remember much of the past four years. This in and of itself isn’t unusual. His memory has been known to cut out and blur and run together. But he thinks he would remember this. He would, right?

He would remember this, he decides. He doesn’t know what he’ll do if this isn’t true.

He looks up to find he’s arrived at his house. His shaking fingers scrabble with the lock and he stumbles inside. He trudges up the stairs to his room to find one monitor open to a Discord server, the other on Twitch.

Tom doesn’t have Discord. Tom doesn’t watch Twitch streams. Tom sits down and his vision blacks out.

**Author's Note:**

> TOMMY ARG!!! if tommy posts any more cryptic content this will probably be updated! 
> 
> leave a kudos or comment if you enjoyed!


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